Whenever we travel, our favorite routine is finding live music. Don’t get me wrong, Bruce Springsteen is always the main event, but there is so much more out there and to be honest, Bruce is not getting any younger. Our method is pretty simple: we look at who is playing in town, look them up on YouTube, and if it feels right, we buy a ticket. That’s actually how we stumbled upon Lime Cordiale during a trip to NYC in 2024.
This time, since we were already in New York for Springsteen, we decided to take a chance on an artist named Marc Broussard at the Brooklyn Bowl. Our friend Simone from Cologne happened to be in the city too, so she tagged along. Here is how the night turned out.
If you look up the Brooklyn Bowl in Williamsburg, the internet describes it as one of those very “New York” venues. It somehow combines a serious live music club, a bowling alley, a bar and a restaurant. It’s an industrial warehouse vibe with exposed brick, craft beer, and an intimate capacity of about 600 people.
📸: pita_oli
We can completely agree with that description now, but when we first walked in, we were a bit surprised. Silly enough, it hadn’t actually occurred to us that “Bowl” meant literal bowling. I think we expected a bowl in the sense of a vessel or an amphitheater, I know I did.
Because of this, the vibe was a bit confusing at first. When we arrived, the floor right in front of the stage was completely empty. People were just casually bowling on the side lanes, and it felt a bit weird for a concert venue. We immediately started speculating: Would they have to stop bowling when the show started? If not, would it have been smarter for us to just pretend we wanted to bowl just to get a better price? We bought ourselves some beers and sat down by one of the tables along the wall.
At 8:30 pm, the support act Sway Wild came on, consisting of Mandy Fer on electric guitar and Dave McGraw on vocals, guitar and sometimes drums. Their music was an interesting mix, a blend of folk-rock, Americana, funk, and indie pop.
The guy was quite mundane, though he had a great voice and alternated between playing the guitar and the drums. Mandy Fer was a different story. She was charismatic and her electric guitar playing was adventurous and expressive. I liked them. They sounded interesting and there was a nice bit of movement in their music.
After the roadies had done their job, the main act entered the stage, and we realized that the “roadies” actually were the band.
Right from the start, the lead singer Marc Broussard impressed us. His voice was great. It’s both gritty and smooth at the same time. The music itself was a really nice mix of southern soul, R&B, and blues-rock. Instead of being overly choreographed or flashy, the whole concert felt loose, human, and very unpretentious.
The band backing him was tight. Bobby Sneck Jr. is a fantastic guitar player and Devin Kerrigan held it all together on bass. The drummer, Terry Scott Jr., even took over the spotlight for a bit and showed everyone that he has a golden voice on one of the songs. I couldn’t track down the name of the man on the keyboards, but he didn’t need a name to impress us. His solos were absolutely spectacular.
📸: pita_oli
The tour is called Chance Worth Taking, which is also the title of his brand-new album. Marc Broussard spoke a bit about it from the stage, mentioning that he wrote one of the new tracks, called, Fever, for his wife. The music had a groovy, irresistible rhythm to it. I couldn’t stand still.
Even though I couldn’t find the exact setlist online afterwards, I remember that he also played some fantastic covers from his older soul and blues cover albums. One highlight was his rendition of Cry to Me, which was absolutely great. At times, the raw, gritty power in his voice reminded me quite a bit of Joe Cocker.
Sadly, the crowd was quite small that night, and the venue was maybe only half full. It was a bit surreal because the bowlers on the side lanes just kept on bowling right through the entire show. Despite the small crowd, there were some really sweet, intimate moments and some interesting people in the audience. Right up front was a couple getting married the very next day and Broussard actually dedicated a song to them.
The floor in front of the stage never really filled up. 📸: Simone
Even with the energy picking up, the floor remained surprisingly sparse near the stage. Both Oliver and Simone appreciated the show just as much as I did. We were all a bit puzzled and flabbergasted that there weren’t more people there to witness it, because it really is a lovely venue and the concert was very entertaining.
After the show, we got to explore the neighborhood a bit on our way walking to the subway station. Williamsburg seems to be absolutely full of cute pubs, great venues, and happy people. As we walked, Oliver and I realised that we recognised the streets from 2024. It turned out Lime Cordiale had played in a venue just around the corner back then. All in all, buying tickets to see Marc Broussard was definitely a chance worth taking.
Stray Bullet 
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